At Aramco, we are driven to accelerate human potential and are committed to making a difference in the communities in which we operate. That's why we mobilize our resources and people to support important causes and charities throughout the Kingdom and around the world.
Our donations program is overseen by our Citizenship Executive Committee and underpinned by our Citizenship Strategy. We employ a systematic approach to identifying the charities to support, and continuously measure the effectiveness of our support to maximize its positive impact.
The beneficiaries of our international donations include: leading universities, educational and cultural institutions, sustainability initiatives, entrepreneurship centers, and disaster relief organizations.
As part of our commitment to support communities at home, we identify populations in need where we can make an immediate and positive impact. Our annual donation program is held during the month of Ramadan, and allows our employees to raise funds for local communities in need. The amount they choose to donate is deducted from their salaries. The money raised is matched by the company and donated to a specific charity.
Since its inception, the Company has been an active citizen demonstrating its commitment to the wellbeing and prosperity of local communities and stimulating progress at home and abroad. The Matched Employees Online Donation program was launched in 2002 to promote the engagement of company employees in community giving by facilitating their donations and providing matching funds to make significant philanthropic contributions that benefit underprivileged segments of society.
One of our donation programs was “I Want to Hear,” held during 2016 and 2017. Thousands of our employees donated to enable the provision of 1,000 hearing aids to those in need, including hearing assessments and the fitting of hearing aids. In 2019, employees had the opportunity to donate to a cause of their own choice. These causes were organized under three themes: social, medical, and educational.
Covid-19 Response Campaign: 2020 has been a challenging year therefore Saudi Aramco efforts were expedited to remain at the forefront of good corporate citizenship. As the world faces an unprecedented health crisis, we stood with our people through the COVID-19 response campaign with an overarching donation theme that spanned our global presence. Through the response campaign, the Company employees volunteered their time to participate in the packaging and distribution of care- boxes that include essential food, hygiene, and edutainment items for the benefit of those who are mostly in need; 17,675 employees contributed to the campaign with a total of SAR 6.45 MM. The amount was matched by the Company to reach a total of SAR 12.9 MM benefiting 20,219 thousand families in 27 cities kingdom-wide. Our global affiliates in Asia, Europe, and the Americas facilitated the donations of $8MM to address COVID-19 testing, food security, PPE needs, medical research, and access to STEM education in communities economically affected by the pandemic.
Safe and Secure education for all: To support students in need, we launched the “Old Device Drive Donations Initiative” enabling our employees to donate old laptops, desktops, tablets and other electronic devices. In support of this initiative, Saudi Aramco is also donating thousands of new devices for distribution to needy schoolchildren across the Kingdom to attend virtual classrooms and perform their studies.
At the end of each campaign, donations are delivered to charities officially registered with the Ministry of Labor and Social Development.